James Carroll
James Carroll, a novelist and former Catholic priest perhaps best known as the author of Constantine’s Sword, will speak on Christianity’s relationship to the Holocaust as the keynote speaker for the twenty-first annual Holocaust Education Project at Elmhurst College.
Carroll’s talk, titled “Holocaust Memory: The Unfinished Christian Reckoning,” will be on April 10, 2011, at 7:00 p.m. in the Founders Lounge of the College’s Frick Center (190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst, www.elmhurst.edu/campusmap). The lecture will be preceded by a Service of Remembrance. Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

His acclaimed book, Constantine’s Sword, is a thoroughly researched and deeply felt history of the relations between Christians and Jews since the first century.

“For two thousand years Jews have been longing for a Christian who would understand their experience,” says Jewish scholar Susannah Heschel. “At last James Carroll has written a book delineating the history of Jewish-Christian relations that demonstrates empathy and compassion for both sides.”

 

Howard Reich
A Chicago Tribune arts critic and writer since 1983, Howard Reich began contributing to the paper in 1977. He is the author of The First and Final Nightmare of Sonia Reich: A Son’s Memoir (2006), an account of his mother’s struggle with memories of the Holocaust that have come back to haunt her. A documentary film about his mother’s Holocaust childhood, Prisoner of Her Past, (produced by Hoop Dreams creators Kartemquin Films) had its premiere in April of 2010 at the Gene Siskel Film Center.

In addition to covering jazz, blues and gospel music for the Tribune, he has written several investigative reports. His articles on the systematic theft of royalties from the jazz composer Jelly Roll Morton, led to the book Jelly’s Blues: The Life, Music and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton (2003). His investigations have been featured on ABC-TV’s Nightline and National Public Radio.

Reich has won a number of awards and honors, including Deems Taylor Awards from ASCAP; the Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University’s Alumni Association and six Peter Lisagor Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. He graduated from Northwestern University’s School of Music with a degree in piano performance.